1st cruise, first time to Alaska...need advice

[inthesouthrn]

Hello everyone. I just found this board and would like to ask you some questions.

 

I have wanted to take a cruise for many years now, but we purchased a motorhome a few years ago, and have since been taking trips in it and enjoy it very much. It has not left any time to take a cruise however,

 

We have wanted to visit Alaska for some time also. Ideally, we would love to travel in our motorhome to Alaska for a nice long visit. However, my husband and I still work full time and live in southeastern North Carolina. We do not have the time it would take to drive all across the USA and then stay in Alaska a few weeks.

 

So then it dawned on us, why not fly to the West coast and take a cruise to Alaska for a couple weeks? Then we could do 2 of the things we have been dreaming of all in one. WoooHoo!!!

 

A bit about ourselves, we are hard working people, but have now reached the time of our lives where we can enjoy ourselves a bit, but on time constraints. I'm 48 and my husband is 54. We are now empty nesters with our youngest child in college. We love RVing, motorcycling, and traveling. We are not the kind of folks that get into dressing up and being formal or anything like that. We love a cruise ship where we can just be ourselves and be casual, see the sites from the ship and taking off on ports of call to see the bears, mountains, glaciers, take flight tours and all the wildlife we can see....that sort of thing. Would a cruise ship be too formal for us? Or should we try to get onto a smaller, more casual setting type ship?

 

I know absolutely close to nothing about a cruise ship, other than it sure looks like fun.

 

Would you all please give me some advice on this matter? Should we try to make cruise arrangements ourselves, or go through a travel agent?

 

Just anything you could tell me would be great in helping me start to plan. We'd like to go this summer, but may have to wait til summer of 2010.

 

Should I order brochures, videos?? Anything else to help me investigate cruises....what would be the best cruise line?

 

Thanks for any help. :)

[kellywhitehills]

Hello everyone. I just found this board and would like to ask you some questions.

 

I have wanted to take a cruise for many years now, but we purchased a motorhome a few years ago, and have since been taking trips in it and enjoy it very much. It has not left any time to take a cruise however,

 

We have wanted to visit Alaska for some time also. Ideally, we would love to travel in our motorhome to Alaska for a nice long visit. However, my husband and I still work full time and live in southeastern North Carolina. We do not have the time it would take to drive all across the USA and then stay in Alaska a few weeks.

 

So then it dawned on us, why not fly to the West coast and take a cruise to Alaska for a couple weeks? Then we could do 2 of the things we have been dreaming of all in one. WoooHoo!!!

 

A bit about ourselves, we are hard working people, but have now reached the time of our lives where we can enjoy ourselves a bit, but on time constraints. I'm 48 and my husband is 54. We are now empty nesters with our youngest child in college. We love RVing, motorcycling, and traveling. We are not the kind of folks that get into dressing up and being formal or anything like that. We love a cruise ship where we can just be ourselves and be casual, see the sites from the ship and taking off on ports of call to see the bears, mountains, glaciers, take flight tours and all the wildlife we can see....that sort of thing. Would a cruise ship be too formal for us? Or should we try to get onto a smaller, more casual setting type ship?

 

 

I know absolutely close to nothing about a cruise ship, other than it sure looks like fun.

 

 

Would you all please give me some advice on this matter? Should we try to make cruise arrangements ourselves, or go through a travel agent?

 

 

Just anything you could tell me would be great in helping me start to plan. We'd like to go this summer, but may have to wait til summer of 2010.

 

 

Should I order brochures, videos?? Anything else to help me investigate cruises....what would be the best cruise line?

 

 

Thanks for any help. :)

 

I am of the opinion after reading about other cruise lines on this board in Alaska they are all pretty close to eachother as far as food and on board activities. Some ships are a little bigger or smaller as far as cabin size. So what you need to do is figure out what ports you want to see and what kind of excursions you want to do. Do you want to add a land portion to your cruise? If so you would want to do a Northbound or Southbound cruise instead of a Round Trip.

 

My husband and I are right about the same age as you... We chose to cruise with Carnival twice because for the price of a regular balcony on most other lines we were about the get a suite.. Plus we liked the longer port times in Juneau and that they stopped in Sitka..On the Round trip we took in Sept we cruised Glacier Bay which was breathtaking..

 

As far as using a travel agent..The first cruise we did and it was fine..But the second cruise I booked directly though the Cruise line..I preferred this method because there was no middle man and if I had any questions I could go directly to the source..Which made things easier to get a fare reduction when the price went down..It saved us an extra 100 bucks a person..Now a good travel agent will do this for you also but its up to you to find the lower fares..

 

This board is an excellent place to research Alaska and there are many helpful people here. They can give you better advice than a travel agent..;) Because a lot of them have been to Alaska many many times and know all the ins and outs to Alaskan Travel.

 

One more thing..Just so you can get an idea of what activities are offered on a Cruise Ship go to

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/559974214eJxdDY

That is a link to the Carnival Capers from our Southbound Cruise. It will give you a pretty good idea what to expect on a Cruise Ship..Also here is a link to out Sept cruise..You can see what our Cabin looked and what some of the ports looked like

http://travel.webshots.com/album/567379652rZUWuy

 

As far as ordering brochures and videos..You can but you have the internet at your fingertips..:) You can find just about everything you need there!

 

 

Happy Researching! This is the fun part!

 

Kelly

[inthesouthrn]

I am of the opinion after reading about other cruise lines on this board in Alaska they are all pretty close to eachother as far as food and on board activities. Some ships are a little bigger or smaller as far as cabin size. So what you need to do is figure out what ports you want to see and what kind of excursions you want to do. Do you want to add a land portion to your cruise? If so you would want to do a Northbound or Southbound cruise instead of a Round Trip.

 

My husband and I are right about the same age as you... We chose to cruise with Carnival twice because for the price of a regular balcony on most other lines we were about the get a suite.. Plus we liked the longer port times in Juneau and that they stopped in Sitka..On the Round trip we took in Sept we cruised Glacier Bay which was breathtaking..

 

As far as using a travel agent..The first cruise we did and it was fine..But the second cruise I booked directly though the Cruise line..I preferred this method because there was no middle man and if I had any questions I could go directly to the source..Which made things easier to get a fare reduction when the price went down..It saved us an extra 100 bucks a person..Now a good travel agent will do this for you also but its up to you to find the lower fares..

 

This board is an excellent place to research Alaska and there are many helpful people here. They can give you better advice than a travel agent..;) Because a lot of them have been to Alaska many many times and know all the ins and outs to Alaskan Travel.

 

One more thing..Just so you can get an idea of what activities are offered on a Cruise Ship go to

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/559974214eJxdDY

That is a link to the Carnival Capers from our Southbound Cruise. It will give you a pretty good idea what to expect on a Cruise Ship..Also here is a link to out Sept cruise..You can see what our Cabin looked and what some of the ports looked like

http://travel.webshots.com/album/567379652rZUWuy

 

As far as ordering brochures and videos..You can but you have the internet at your fingertips..:) You can find just about everything you need there!

 

 

Happy Researching! This is the fun part!

 

Kelly

 

Thank you Kelly. Your post was very, very helpful!!! This is fun!:)

[GMoney]

Hi and welcome to CC...

 

Here are some random thoughts to help with your planning...

 

> Since you are experienced RVers, you may want to consider flying to AK, renting a RV, and driving around the state. I don't have personal experience with this, but many on the board do, and it seems like a great way to see the state.

 

> Factors to consider when booking a cruise:

 

- Do you want to go round trip (start / end same place) or open jaw (start / end different places)?

 

- Where to you want to sail from (Seattle, Vancouver, Seward, Whittier)? Airfare is a factor.

 

- How long do you want to sail for?

 

> Glacier visits are a big part of AK cruises. Some feature 1 glacier, others 2. Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier are the most common. Both are impressive in their own way.

 

> As you start to make selections, compare port times. Maximum time in ports is important for excursions.

 

> As far as cruise lines go, they are more similar than different. HAL & Princess have more ships in the area and more varied itineraries. RCCL, X, NCL and Carnival are also good options. There's no "bad" cruise line; but the minor differences between them boil down to personal preference.

 

> Planning your excursions is almost as important as planning your cruise. Start to figure out what interests you in the common ports (Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau) to ensure you get the experience you want. The right combo of excursions and itinerary / ship will determine what cruise to take.

 

> As far as research goes, planning your trip is something you can do yourself for sure. I'd read up on here and maybe Trip Advisor. Get a copy of Fodors or Frommers. If you get a TA, make sure they know what they have experience with AK and know what they are doing - many don't. I found getting the brochures from the cruise lines was helpful. Sometimes you can download them directly at their websites.

 

> It is not too early to start planning now, for either 09 or 10.

 

> If I had to make a recommendation, I would do a 5-7 day independent land tour (featuring Denali and Seward), followed by a one-way cruise (starting in either Seward or Whittier) to Vancouver.

 

> Holler as you have questions.

[cjnky]

Like you, we love our RV, but didn't want to take the time to drive it clear across US & Canada. We had one friend that had done that, and another who had cruised - and they both swore theirs was the best way. So we decided to combine the two and LOVED it! We flew to Vancouver and took the Coral Princess to Alaska where we rented an RV for two weeks to travel on our own. Here's a review of our trip that may give you a few ideas. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g28923-i349-k1497369-l9084878-Our_Great_Alaska_3_week_Holiday_L_O_N_G-Alaska.html We plan to return (I guess everyone who goes to AK HAS to return!) Although I loved the cruise, next time we'll skip that part and just stick with the RV.

[COJOMAY]

One thing you may want to consider. If you go north bound many say the scenery just keeps getting better. If you go south bound, well....

 

Either way you are going to have to pay for airfare either to or from Anchorage so that's a wash.

 

Lastly, my feelings are that this is a once-in-a-lifetime cruise so I'm not going to try and be "cheap." I booked an aft suite with a wrap-around deck and everyone says they are the best. But I suppose that's a matter of preference.

 

I did a ton of research on this site and others and then made all my own arrangements. That was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Especially read the link "Carnival Secrets They Don't tell You About." It's in the Carnival portion of this website. I learned a lot from that. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=488552

[kathynorth]

Hi Kelly,

 

My husband andI took a 13 day cruisetour this past July. The trip was awesome! As suggested above, you should decide on your time frame and itinerary of preference and then match these to a cruise. We traveled south to north and agree that the trip was more impressive as we traveled along. The land portion of our trip was booked through the cruiseline and was great, however if we were to do it again we would rent a car and follow a similar itinerary.

 

Our trips to several major glaciers (Sawyer, Hubbard, and a helicopter landing) where the highlight of our trip. Oh, I can't leave out Denali either. That was great too. Also, our whale watch at Point Adolphus was unbelievable. I wish we could have taken a boat trip on PWS that included a glacier viewing, but we just didn't have enough time.

 

We traveled on Celebrity and had a great time, but I think we would have had fun with any of the larger cruiselines. It's hard to beat Alaska! Have fun!